TD Garden
TD Garden is a sports arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after its sponsor, TD Bank, N.A. and is often simply called The Garden, The New Garden/Boston Garden II (to distinguish that from the original Boston Garden), or the traditional Boston Garden. It was formerly known as the FleetCenter and the Shawmut Center (title sponsor Shawmut Bank was bought by FleetBoston Financial before the arena opened). TD Bank, N.A. has been in control of the arena's naming rights since 2005, with the arena called TD Banknorth Garden until July 16, 2009, when the TD Banknorth name ceased to exist. TD Garden is the home arena for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League, the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association, and the Boston Blazers of the National Lacrosse League. It is the site of the annual Beanpot college hockey tournament, and hosts the annual Hockey East Championships. The arena has also hosted many major national sporting events including the 1999 and 2003 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball regional first and second rounds, the 2009 Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight, the 2004 Frozen Four, and the 2006 Women's Final Four. History Construction Planners drew up designs for a new arena in the early 1990s as the need for a new facility became apparent. Plans for the new stadium stated that it would be slightly north of the Boston Garden. The term "slightly north" ended up meaning that there was only nine inches (23 cm) of space between the two buildings, when construction was completed. The site for the new stadium occupied 3.2 acres. It eventually cost $160 million. Ground was broken on April 29, 1993. In 27 months, quick by today's standards, the stadium was built. That includes 7 weeks of delay caused by heavy snowfall. The FleetCenter opened on September 30, 1995. Naming When constructed to replace the aging Boston Garden as the home of the Boston Bruins hockey team and the Boston Celtics basketball team, the arena was called the FleetCenter. The arena opened on September 30, 1995. During the construction phase, the naming rights to the "New Garden" were sold to a major Boston-based regional bank, Shawmut Bank. However, just as the Shawmut Center was being completed, Shawmut merged with its somewhat larger rival, the Providence-based Fleet Bank. The merger was negotiated in secret while Shawmut and Fleet's marketing departments were simultaneously engaged in a spirited bidding war for the arena's naming rights. The post-merger bank had effectively been bidding against itself. The bank which won the competition for the "New Garden's" naming rights, Shawmut, was the bank whose name disappeared during the merger. Shortly before the new arena opened, every seat, which had been stamped with the Shawmut logo, had to be replaced. Also, the entire color scheme for the interior had to be adjusted. The name of the arena was expected to change as a result of the April 1, 2004 merger of FleetBoston Financial with Bank of America. On January 5, 2005, FleetCenter's owner, Delaware North Companies, announced an agreement under which the bank made a payment to be released from the remaining six years on the naming rights agreement. The agreement left Delaware North free to sell the naming rights to another sponsor. On March 3, 2005, Maine-based TD Banknorth, a U.S. subsidiary of Toronto-Dominion Bank, announced its purchase of the naming rights. The first major event after the announcement was the 2005 Hockey East men's tournament. The company named the facility "TD Banknorth Garden" in honor of the original Boston Garden. The name officially became the TD Banknorth Garden on July 1, 2005. Prior to that date, it went under the name "YourGarden." In early 2005, while still searching for a long-term corporate sponsor, the FleetCenter conducted auctions on eBay to sell one-day naming rights. From February 10 to March 13, the FleetCenter sold the naming rights 30 different times on eBay. The net proceeds of $150,633.22 generated during the auction was donated to charities in the Greater Boston area, and $40,000 worth of My Grandma's Coffee Cakes was donated to local food banks. The FleetCenter also made private arrangements with a few companies for one-day naming rights, and offered one day's rights in an employee raffle. During the name auction, only twice were names reported to be rejected. Kerry Konrad, a New York City lawyer and New York Yankees fan, won naming rights for March 1. He proposed the name "DerekJeterCenter," after the New York Yankees shortstop, a stab at fellow Harvard alum and Boston Red Sox fan Jerry Rappaport, Jr., with whom he had a 25 year-old rivalry. Being in the heart of Red Sox Nation, the name did not sit well with the executives and was rejected. An agreement was reached in which the arena would be named "New Boston Garden, Home of The Jimmy Fund Champions." Fark.com founder Drew Curtis held a contest on his website to name the arena after he bought single-day rights. A user vote resulted in the "Fark.com UFIA Center" coming on top, but the name was rejected due to its inappropriate meaning. The name eventually selected by Curtis and company was "Boston Garden". *Including its present name, the TD Garden has had 33 different names. *Celtics players dubbed it "The Jungle" during the team's 2002 playoff run. In April 2008, parent company TD Banknorth became TD Bank, N.A., after a merger with Commerce Bancorp. Owner Delaware North Companies announced on April 15, 2009, that the building would be renamed TD Garden in July 2009. Renovations Before the 2006–07 season, the TD Garden underwent a major overhaul, installing a new High-definition video entertainment board, the first of its kind in any arena. For basketball, video advertising panels (installed by the NCAA for the 2006 Women's Final Four) replaced the traditional scrolling panels, and added a see-through shot clock, joining the FedExForum, Wachovia Center, Philips Arena, US Airways Center, United Center, and the Time Warner Cable Arena. External links *TD Garden Category:Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States